Like mother, like son: sprinting runs deep in the blood of Walaza family

Before teenage sensation Bayanda Walaza won an Olympic silver medal with the South African men’s 4x100m team in Paris, his mother Tholiwe, from the small village of KwaWalaza in Sterkspruit and a former sprinter herself, knew they were going to end up on the podium.

Walaza and teammates Akani Simbine, Shaun Maswanganyi and Bradley Nkoana came second behind Canada in the hotly contested final. 

“I remember the day of their qualification for the final. It was a Thursday,” Tholiwe said.

“I had come out of a women’s church service. I told the ladies at church that in the final South Africa would come through with a medal because there were signs some did not understand, and they did.”

She was going on a gut feeling having walked the path before, albeit in the modest arena of the Eastern Cape.

She understood the odds and what it takes to be successful in a race.

After all, she spent her childhood doing that and was known as a 100m specialist in the mountain tops of Sterkspruit while growing up.

“Racing is in his blood. I would say so because I was also a sprinter in primary school.

“I remember the first time I got to see another town. It was Mthatha and it was because of athletics. Sprinting is something in our genes,” Tholiwe said.

Though she had the potential to be a track star in her heyday, her career was cut short due to lack of resources and financial struggles.

“Growing up in the villages it was hard to get proper facilities to train on.

“Hence you find many children with potential end up leaving their dreams,” she said.

That pain and disappointment from her childhood is what drives her to support her son Bayanda.

“Like any parent, I want the best for him and with the little I have I make sure he gets to fulfil his dream.

“I receive a low salary but I had to forgo some items so he could have essentials such as running spikes and training gear, which were costly.

“I had little myself so he could take what he required,” Walaza, who works at SPAR as a merchandiser, said.

Though the 18-year-old Bayanda’s family roots trace back to the Eastern Cape, he was born in Katlehong in 2006 after his mother left KwaWalaza to study matric and post-school in Gauteng.

It is in Katlehong that the Walaza 2.0 sprinting dream was given birth.

He is someone who writes his emotions down and he grew up doing that, especially when his father died. That was one of the things he got from counselling and has helped him a lot

—  Tholiwe Walaza

Tholiwe shared a memory of when, at eight years old, Bayanda promised in a letter to construct a home for her and himself, be on TV and bring pride to his mother and deceased father.

“He is someone who writes his emotions down and he grew up doing that, especially when his father died.

“That was one of the things he got from counselling and has helped him a lot,” she said.

Bayanda was 10 when his father was killed in a fight.

That is something Tholiwe pointed to regarding the quick growth of Bayanda’s character as a young boy.

That young boy graduated to be a man in Paris and will be able to fulfil the wishes he wrote of in that letter a decade ago.

On Tuesday, he got a hero’s welcome at OR Tambo International Airport where thousands of people, including his schoolmates at Curro Hazeldean, crowded the international arrivals terminal. 

For his efforts in winning a medal, Walaza will receive R75,000.

As he returns to school after earning glory, his mother has asked that he stay grounded and remain the same boy he was a month ago before he hopped on a plane to France to fulfil his destiny.